Friday, December 31, 2010

I know there are several pom pom flower tutorials floating around blogland so this won’t be new to some of you, but I make mine a little differently {with a hairclip AND pin} so I thought I would share this little tutorial with you!

1) Gather your supplies…knit fabric (they also look great made with felt and I am dying to try one made with a mix of lace and cotton so stay tuned for that!), felt for the backing, a hairclip, a pin back, sharp fabric scissors, and your trusty glue gun! Love an easy no sew project!

2) Cut your circles. I make mine about 2.5 inches in diameter. I don’t trace them. Just eyeball it and give it whirl. Doesn't need to be perfect. You need one circle from the felt and about 15-20 from the knit depending on how full/big you want your flower to be. You probably won’t use all 20 but it’s good to have extras just in case of a glue gun malfunction or something.

3) Next you are going to hand sew (or glue…whatever floats your boat) your hairclip and pin back to the felt circle.

4) Now you are just going to start gluing your knit circles to the felt. I fold the circle in half, dab the glue (for extra insurance) then fold in half again. Dab the glue on the bottom of the “petal” then place it onto the felt. Hold it there for a few seconds. Keep repeating this step until your flower is as puffy as you want it to be.

I like mine to be about 3” in diameter. As you are gluing be mindful of the shape of your flower and try to make it as round as possible. It’s easy to get a little lopsided.

5) Once you have the shape and puffiness you desire…you’re done! How easy is that?!?!

Here are some of my favorite ways to wear these flowers {or myShabby Blossoms}

So many possibilities! These flowers are so fun to make and come together quickly! I gave them as Christmas gifts with pretty scarves from Cost Plus World Market. I hope you make some too and if you do…share them on my Flickr group!

For those of you that want a flower but don't feel like crafting your own...I will have these for sale in the shop in January!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

We entertain a lot so I have made it a priority to have several recipes in my back pocket that can feed a crowd without too much work on my part! A lot of the time I enlist help from my trusty sidekick...the crock pot! Simple recipes that can be thrown together in a hurry and that taste great. Today I am sharing one of my favorites with you!

Place the roast in the crock pot. Pour liquids on top. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Toast rolls with a little butter (you can melt some cheese on them too...yum). Shred the beef and serve on the toasty roll with a little bowl of the sauce. This is great with a big green salad! Easy peesy.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Little man was really into Christmas this year so it was super fun for us. He made extra sure to take care of all the details like setting out cookies for Santa and putting the magical reindeer food (granola and glitter) on the lawn…all very necessary to insure that the Big Guy would visit our house! And he did!!! Seeing the excitement as Carter opened the gift that Santa’s elves had made just for him {Cars Monster Truck Wrastin’ Ring} was priceless!

I would say we all had a very blessed day…except for Lucy who was a little ticked off that Santa forgot to fill her stocking. Oh well…she has paper to lay on!

And now for Made with Love Monday #7! You all continue to amaze me with all of the crafty goodness you share each week! It is becoming increasingly harder to chose my favorites! But this week my pick goes to Homemade Ginger and her Wooden Picture frame using dictionary pages! I love it! It’s been so fun to see all the crafts using book pages! I can’t wait to whip up a few book page crafts of my own!

Great work everyone! I can’t wait to see what you link up this week! I'll be leaving the party open until Friday to give you a chance to link up multiple projects if you choose to.

{Just a few party guidelines}

To link up, I would first love for you to follow my blog. I like followers. The more the merrier. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy!

Link up your crafts, recipes, home decor....anything that has been made by you! {Multiple links to different posts are fine}

Link back here by grabbing the super cute button on my sidebar and posting it either in your post or somewhere on your blog to let others know you've joined the party!

If you see something you like, click on it and go leave them a comment. Everyone loves comments!

Lastly, feel free to help me spread the word about Made with Love Monday! Follow me on Twitter {just click on my little Twitter button} and use this tweet "I linked up my crafty goodness to @sewchatty's "Made with Love Monday" http://bit.ly/fxUfUQ Check it out and link up your craftiness too!"

Friday, December 24, 2010

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a wonderfully blessed New Year!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

…me! Recently I've been honored by several fellow bloggers awarding me The Stylish Blogger award! I’m so flattered! A big thanks to Katie at Eye Spy DIY, Lindy at Crafty Like Lindy, and Esther at Shoregirl’s Creations for being so sweet and passing this award along to me! And now I get to pay it forward and share the love! So here we go…

There are 4 duties to perform to accept this award: 1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award 2. Share 7 things about yourself 3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers 4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

7 things you may not know about me…

I hate belly buttons…they creep me out.

I can’t see action movies in the theater because they make me motion sick.

I lost 30 lbs with Weight Watchers a few years back and I am a receptionist now. Helps me keep the weight off!

I am mommy to the funniest little man I’ve ever known…he also has mild autism.

I went to Bible College in San Dimas CA.

I LOVE Anthropologie and would move in if they’d let me.

I love weekend trips out of town with my husband and wish we got to do more of them.

And now for my awards…I am a blog lover…my Google reader has it’s work cut out for it everyday! Here are some of the blogs I currently enjoy. This is a group of very talented ladies that inspire me to keep doing what I do. You should definitely pay them a visit!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Took some time today to enjoy the rain! It's been raining since Thursday and the worst storm is still on the way! Kind of fun for us southern California folks! It actually feels like winter around here!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Good morning friends! I hope you all had a lovely weekend! Our weekend was filled with Christmas parties, caroling, a visit to Santa, some cleaning, some baking, and our VERY FIRST church service in our new building. SO exciting! It has been super rainy here. Unusual for southern CA, but I love it! Feels like winter!

Alright, let’s get to it! You all linked up some AMAZING projects last week! Seriously, you are a very talented group! It was very hard to pick my favorites, but I’ve narrowed it down to these three. The list was MUCH longer than that!

Liz has posted this really fun skirt to purse tutorial at her blog Fast Daze. LOVE it. And I have the perfect skirt to repurpose too!

Ashley at Little Miss Momma made a super cute Anthro knock off necklace. Pom Poms AND gray. I could not not love this more. It’s right up my alley!

As you can tell, I love bags {and accessories} so I am featuring another one of my faves! Sarah at Restorative Living shared this little ruffley gem! How cute is that?!?

Great work ladies! I can’t wait to see what you link up this week! I'll be leaving the party open until Friday to give you a chance to link up multiple projects if you choose to.

{Just a few party guidelines}

To link up, I would first love for you to follow my blog. I like followers. The more the merrier. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy!

Link up your crafts, recipes, home decor....anything that has been made by you! {Multiple links to different posts are fine}

Link back here by grabbing the super cute button on my sidebar and posting it either in your post or somewhere on your blog to let others know you've joined the party!

If you see something you like, click on it and go leave them a comment. Everyone loves comments!

Lastly, I would love for you to help me spread the word about Made with Love Monday! Follow me on Twitter {just click on my little Twitter button} and use this tweet "I linked up my crafty goodness to @sewchatty's "Made with Love Monday" http://bit.ly/fxUfUQ Check it out and link up your craftiness too!"

Monday, December 13, 2010

Last night was the annual Christmas Dessert at our church The Warehouse. It's always such a fun event and last night was no exception! As I mentioned yesterday a friend and I were in charge of the coffee bar and dessert tables...lots of tasty hot drinks and yummy desserts were had by all! Here are a few photos to recap last nights festivities!

We offered 3 specialty drinks and a recipe for each...

Vanilla Latte

Peppermint Hot Cocoa

and Caramel Apple Cider. AND I even crafted a few Christmasy accessories for myself to wear!

A Felt Pom Pom Flower Pin

and some Rosette Hairpins...tutorial for these hairpins coming soon!

And now, I welcome you to Made with Love Monday #5! Last week was my biggest party to date so I thank all of you who stopped by and linked up your craftiness! You all amaze me with your talents! My {FAVORITE} link from last weeks party were the Stockings posted by A Creative Momma.

I just adore the fabrics she chose! The bright colors are so fun and I love how she used non-Christmas colored prints! Can't wait to see what you all share this week!

{Just a few party guidelines}

To link up, I would first love for you to follow my blog. I like followers. The more the merrier. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy!

Link up your crafts, recipes, home decor....anything that has been made by you! {Multiple links to different posts are fine}

Link back here by grabbing the super cute button on my sidebar and posting it either in your post or somewhere on your blog to let others know you've joined the party!

If you see something you like, click on it and go leave them a comment. Everyone loves comments!

Lastly, I would love for you to help me spread the word about Made with Love Monday! Follow me on Twitter {just click on my little Twitter button} and use this tweet "I linked up my crafty goodness to @sewchatty's "Made with Love Monday" http://bit.ly/gEcGHE Check it out and link up your craftiness too!"

Sunday, December 12, 2010

A friend and I are in charge of the coffee bar and dessert tables out our church dessert tonight. Budget is limited so we had to get crafty on the cheap...which means a trip to the Dollar Tree! Here are a few of the table decorations we came up with...

We can't have open flames in the facility we're renting so we picked up these battery operated flameless candles and {cuted} them up a bit with some paper ribbon and mini candy canes! I love how they turned out!

We're doing a few fancy hot drinks which require various syrups and toppings and since the bottles are not cute at all...we wrapped them up in some candy cane paper and hot glued a peppermint candy to the bow! So fun!

Stay tuned for a full post on the finished coffee and dessert tables tomorrow along with Made with Love Monday #5! Happy Sunday friends :)